A Small Luxury Hotel in Canada's eastern wilderness

Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Guests of the Lodge from May to late August enjoyed the masterful guitar music of Daniel Gillis. He pre- and post-prandial performances enchanted young and old alike.

Trout Point is proud to announce that local, multi-talented musician Eldon Peters is continuing Daniel’s legacy, offering not just guitar playing but also fiddle music. Guests can enjoy cocktails and music each night at 7 pm, with after-dinner performances around the fire pit!

The Lodge’s new after-dinner astronomy offerings have steadily gained in popularity this summer, even drawing the attention of the Globe & Mail newspaper. Staff astronomer Mike Hiland leads guests on interpretive tours both at Trout Point and in the nearby Tobeatic Wilderness Area, at Indian Fields.

A new riverside platform gives broad views of the Milky Way and other astronomical phenomenon. Trout Point and its surrounds boast the darkest night time skies in North America–superb for seeing things made invisible by light pollution.

The most popular outing is a safari-like expedition in the Lodge’s Jeep Rubicon, along the Tobeatic’s border, to Indian Fields–something described by Globe & Mail bureau chief Oliver Moore!

The hardwood logs inoculated with Shiitake mushroom spawn back during the Lodge’s 2009 season have for the first time born fruit in the form of an abundance of delectable mushrooms! The Trout Point gardens have all been hand-turned and rowed up, and planting of seeds and seedlings is in process.

Guests this year will experience an unsurpassed gastronomic experience of local delicacies this season!

Water is up on the Tusket River and Trout Point looks forward to seeing you soon! Book online now starting at $145/night for a Deluxe Junior Suite.

Nova Scotia’s only member of Relais & Chateaux announces a new 1800 square foot suite along the Tusket River and the advent of guided astronomy excursions for its 2011 season. The Lodge will also open May 1 for its first year of year-round operations after 11 years.

Dubbed simply The Forest Suite, Atlantic Canada’s largest hotel suite will boast 2 wood-burning fireplaces, decks overlooking the flowing Tusket River, 28′ cathedral ceilings, a full kitchen dressed in green slate, and a spacious bathroom with separate tub & show plus double sinks. The suite will be available May 7 if not earlier.

Trout Point also offers 1 standard room, 7 junior suites and 1 full suite in the main log & stone lodge, as well as a 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom cottage.

The exclusive Nova Scotia wilderness resort has also hired a staff astronomer—graduate of St. Mary’s University’s Astronomy & Physics program—to lead experiential outings into the Tobeatic Wilderness Area. Trout Point & The Tobeatic have the darkest night time skies in eastern North America, even darker than Kejimkujik National Park, a Dark Sky Preserve. The astronomer will offer interpretive outings on themes such as: Constellations and their Greek Mythological Origins: Laser-guided Tour of the Night Sky; Meteor Showers: Night Sky Tour with Emphasis on the Observing and Understanding of Meteors; and the Summer Milky Way. Guests can combine a romantic candle-lit dinner with a postprandial learning experience unmatched almost anywhere else on earth.

As in recent years past, the Lodge will also have guides for kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, and fishing.

Trout Point employs about 15 people during its peak operating season from May to late October. This year, the Lodge will stay open year-round, including dining, through with a leaner staff in low season months.

The Lodge has become known as a destination that reflects unique Nova Scotia experiences. It was among 10 finalists worldwide chosen by the National Geographic Society for its Geotourism Challenge, Power of Place: Sustaining the Future of Destinations. It has been a member of the prestigious, Paris-based Relais & Chateaux Association since 2009. Late last year the Association asked Trout Point to be one of 18 model member properties for experiential tourism for its World Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.

Trout Point Lodge is expanding the dining experiences offered to guests and local residents with the opening of the new Chez la Tousquet scheduled for June 1, 2011.

Entering its 12th season of operation, the Lodge has always emphasized gourmet food in table d’hôte menus focused on local produce & world-class seafood. Trout Point often features products from its own 5,000 square foot vegetable, herb, & flower gardens.

Chez la Tousquet will offer candle-lit dining in an intimate space with walls of blue-granite blocks and painted wood panelling. A focal-point hand-cut red sandstone fireplace will compliment views of the Tusket River, the restaurant’s namesake. A hewn hemlock-wood wine bar provides a spot for pre-dining beverages, including 140 selections from a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence-winning list.

Guests will have the option of the classic The Dining Room, with its rustic wood furniture, or the new venue for dinner. Chez la Tousquet’s will offer some options of appetizers and main dishes versus the purely fixed menu of The Dining Room. Home-made pastas and vegetarian options will be served alongside local seafood. Trout Point emphasizes the importance of local ingredients and sustainable practices. It is among only a handful of properties in the country holding a 5 Green Key rating and won the inaugural Green Restaurant Award from the Nova Scotia Restaurant Association.

Chef-proprietors Vaughn Perret and Charles Leary will oversee both restaurants. Authors of The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook: Creole Cuisine from New Orleans to Nova Scotia (Random House), the duo steered the Lodge to membership in the prestigious Relais & Chateaux Association in 2009. An grouping of boutique hotels and gourmet restaurants around the world, Relais & Chateaux members hold more than half of all the stars for cuisine awarded by the Michelin guide. Perret & Leary are featured in the 2010 cookbooks Chefs at Home and 85 Inspirational Chefs alongside the likes of The French Laundry’s Thomas Keller, Patrick O’Connell of the Inn at Little Washington, and Daniel Boulud of New York’s Daniel.

Chez la Tousquet will require reservations and will have a single seating each evening starting June 1.

Trout Point Lodge has entered the Geotourism Challenge 2010: Places on the Edge, Saving Coastal & Freshwater Destinations. You can see the entry here. The Challenge is sponsored by the National Geographic Society, Ashoka’s Changemakers, and the InterAmerican Development Bank.

Trout Point was among 10 worldwide finalist in the 2009 Geotourism Challenge and a delegate to the 2010 Geotourism Summit.